1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method of providing medical data, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of providing medical data based on a handover between a gateway for collecting home medical information and a gateway in an ambulance, when a sensor for measuring the home health information is moved to the ambulance.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapidly rising costs of medical care, medical services are moving from treatment-oriented services to prevention and diagnosis-oriented services.
In this regard, using Information Technology (IT) development and technological convergence, technologies are being developed to meet new consumer demands for prevention and diagnosis-oriented services and many companies are developing new medical services.
For prevention and diagnosis, medical services have been standardized for consumers or patients to get medical services at home, without having to go to hospital or see a medical expert. Such standardized medical services provide a sensor for measuring patient conditions and an Application Hosting Device (AHD) for collecting data measured by the sensor at home.
The medical services also provide a Wide Area Network (WAN) device, i.e., a type of a medical management service provider for receiving collected information from the AHD, and a Health Reporting Network (HRN) device, which performs a similar role as a hospital, an insurance company, etc., for receiving medical data from the medical management service provider.
In addition, a Local Area Network (LAN) interface and a Personal Area Network (PAN) interface are provided between the sensor and the AHD to deliver the data measured at home.
For example, when a patient is equipped with a medical sensor on his/her body, measured medical data can be stored in a storage device within the medical sensor. However, when the medical sensor includes a storage device within the medical sensor, the medical sensor's size and weight hinders its wearability.
Therefore, to reduce the size of the medical sensor, measured medical data may be delivered to and stored in a separate device, e.g., a wirelessly connected medical gateway.
However, during an emergency, a patient is often moved from their home to a hospital, e.g., via an ambulance. Therefore, a pairing procedure between the medical sensor attached to the patient and a medical gateway, e.g., in the ambulance, for the medical staff to check the patient's medical data should be performed.
However, if the patient is unconscious, it can be difficult to find out a password, e.g., a pin code, which is used to perform the pairing procedure between the medical sensor and the medical gateway within the ambulance.
Further, during an emergency situation, any delay in connecting the patient's medical sensor and the medical gateway may be dangerous for the patient.